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Months after meeting Buhari, actor Uchemba exposed for fraud

Nollywood
actor and Instagram sensation, Williams Uchemba, who had posed as a United
Nations ambassador and even met with President Muhammadu Buhari for his work on
youth matters in September, has been accused of fraud.

United
Nations Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake, who is an aide to the
Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, said he was unknown to the
organisation.

A United
States-based Nigerian human rights activist, Edafe Okporo, had shared a
screenshot of a supposed chat thread with Uchemba requesting information on how
to attend an upcoming UN Youth Assembly event.

The response
from the former child actor read, “I will need three things from you: passport
data page, email address and registration fee ($1,000). After payment is
confirmed, I will then send you a questionnaire for you to fill and send back.

“The $1,000
covers for your United Nations invitation letter (which is what you will take
to the embassy and the UN will also send a copy to the embassy) which is also
registration and admission into the UN HQ, your training materials and
certificate from the United Nations, your US visa process and filling of your
DA-160 (online form).”

According to
screenshots that went viral on social media, Okporo alerted Wickramanayake, who
responded, saying she was working on a message “to save young people from scams
like these.”

Shortly
after, in a statement via her official Twitter account, the UN envoy said, “It
has been brought to my attention that organisations and individuals claim
affiliation to my office and the United Nations, promising participation in
meetings and conferences upon payment of a fee.

“Please
note: The United Nations does not charge a fee at any stage for participating
in meetings and conferences. The Office of the United Nations Secretary
General’s Envoy on Youth does not have country or regional representatives.”

Uchemba, who
is also the brains behind the #GiveChallenge, has garnered over 1.4 million
followers on Instagram and over 35,000 followers due to his many comedy skits.

Attempts to
get a reaction from him proved abortive as his telephone indicated that it was
switched off while a text message was not responded to as of press time.